Traditionally, vehicle-manufacturing techniques have required that a vehicle door must be assembled before a vehicle has been painted. In this regard, a door substructure with depending door exterior is coupled to a vehicle via a pair of hinges. While the body of a vehicle is being coated with various layers, the door is also coated. During the painting operation, the door must be opened and closed by rotation about the coupling hinge to insure proper painting of the door and vehicle body. Those skilled in the art will recognize these operations significantly increase the complexity of robotic painting systems and their associated paint paths and therefore increase manufacturing time and costs.
After the door and body have been painted, mechanisms related to the functioning of an assembled door must be coupled to the door substructure and exterior surface. Traditionally the painted door is rotated about its hinges and interior door components are inserted into the door substructure through access holes within the door substructure. The time needed for incorporation of the internal door components, such as window lift mechanisms, lock mechanisms and restraint mechanisms, significantly increases manufacturing time and therefore costs. After incorporation of the internal door components, the vehicles interior trim components are then coupled to the door substructure's interior surface to cover the door substructure. At this point, the assembled door's alignment must be adjusted to insure proper fit and finish to the assembled vehicle body.
What is needed then is a door assembly and associated method for producing a vehicle door which does not suffer from the above-mentioned disadvantages. This in turn, will provide a door assembly which is inexpensive and easily manufactured and increases the overall flexibility for a vehicle's design and component incorporation. It is, therefore, an object of the present invention to provide such a vehicle door and associated method for producing a vehicle door.